I'm experiencing flickering of my desktop icons as if it's refreshing

I'm not sure if this flickering that I'm experiencing in my Windows 10 desktop icons is caused by my graphics card or a conflict with the software installed. I've had the same graphics card for almost 10 years and it's never given me any problems.

I was going to upgrade and buy a new graphics card but I if fear that once installed I'll still see the same flickering so, for now, I'm holding off.

Is there any way to find out which program I have installed could be causing this conflict if it is software related? I have not installed any new software in the last year, this flickering started about 1 to 2 months ago. I noticed it at first when I was watching TV looking straight ahead, my computer monitors are to my right so it caught my attention because of the flicker.

It's a bit frustrating because I know of no way to eliminate each and every program to determine which one could be causing it or if indeed I do have an old graphics card going bad. I didn't post this in the graphics card forum because I'm convinced it's software related.

Any and all help will be appreciated very much

They are being refreshed. The Desktop is not Static as a picture hanging on the wall but Dynamic, always being refreshed or redrawn. I see it when doing things but usually not a problem and doesn't take long. Could be caused by something running in the background, also could be the use by the video/graphics adapter using part of the main memory/RAM along with what it came with.

Berton said:

They are being refreshed. The Desktop is not Static as a picture hanging on the wall but Dynamic, always being refreshed or redrawn. I see it when doing things but usually not a problem and doesn't take long. Could be caused by something running in the background, also could be the use by the video/graphics adapter using part of the main memory/RAM along with what it came with.

That's what I also thought but then I asked myself why have I never seen this or noticed it before? Why would it all of a sudden start happen? That's what leads me to believe there might be something going on.

CountMike said:

Similar things were happening to me but I'm on Skippy build and was messing about some settings. It was full screnn refresh every few minutes.
Tell me, did you also loose almost all items in hidden icons in taskbar at same time ?

No, I didn't lose any of my taskbar icons, my dual monitors just look like as if I was right clicking and do a refresh, they flicker just like a refresh. I do not lose any icon.

pepanee said:

1) Completely Uninstall your graphics card.
2) Restart the computer.
3) Go to Windows Update on your computer, press 'Check for updates' button to let it automatically install your graphics card.
4) After installation, Restart the computer.
5) See if it happens anymore. If it doesn't happen anymore, then problem solved.
6) If it still happens, go to your graphics card's website and download/install the recommended driver for you.
7) See if it happens anymore.
8) If it still happens, then yes, maybe there's some sort of conflict.
9) Look in the Event Viewer, and maybe you can find something in there hopefully

Thanks, I have already done all that except the event viewer. I'll try that next. otherwise, I think I will end up replacing the graphics card just because I was going to a few times earlier but I had a fin thermo cooler on my CPU and I couldn't fit the card in the slot I wanted. I removed that cooler a while ago maybe a year ago and my CPU temps have been fine.

So now that I have space I will buy a new graphics card now, if it still happens after that it has to be a conflict and unless it starts to affect my computer more than a flicker once in a while I am going to just not worry about it until something happens......lol

pepanee said:

Yea.

Here's anothier thing I found online for you. Maybe Explorer.exe could be crashing (that's why it looks like it's refreshing):
Is there any way to stop auto refresh of windows 10? - Quora


"
Explorer is probably crashing. Checking the Reliability History might tell you why.Click Start, type Reliability. Click "View Reliability History"
See if there are any critical entries listed there for Explorer.exe
"

Nope, none for Explorer.exe I think I will just do what I said above and not worry about it for now. I have heard that Dragon voice recognition can cause an issue. I have version 15, I have had a few issues but not enough to go through a reinstall I use it everyday and I may do that when I install the new Graphics card, I'll get a new one someday soon.

Thanks for everyone's input, I feel this minor issue of flickering once in a while is worth the time I am giving it, Now if things get worse that is a different story

First of all my system is a desktop, I was all of a sudden a month or 2 ago started to see the desktop and taskbar icons look as if they were refreshing, I called it flickering. If you want to know about my issues you can read the whole thread but I found this YouTube video about desktop & taskbar icons flashing.

I checked what this guy says and my setting was on Tablet also I guess that is the default for Win 10. I did the same thing that he says he did and I am no longer seeing any flickering or flashing of any of my desktop or taskbar icons. It seems the reason it all of a sudden started to happen was that the issue is caused by a recent Windows 10 update, I hope if any of you are having the same problem this helps you as it did me.

Here is the YouTube link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B11bqCDH72k